Aerological data spurred dynamical meteorology: Richard Scherhag’s contribution of 1934 as an early milestone

Abstract

A brief note is presented on a paper of Richard Scherhag that first appeared in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift in 1934. At the outset some biographical information about Richard Scherhag is given, who provided important stimuli to synoptic meteorology before and after the Second World War, working first at national weather services and later as founding chair of the meteorological institute of Freie Universität Berlin. Thereafter the essentials of his ground breaking study of 1934 about the theory of pressure systems are summarized. Related contemporary studies by Scherhag are also mentioned together with a brief account of his reception in the English-speaking world.